


black cat

by moonlight_fairytale



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, I really don't know how to tag, Mental Health Issues, Private Investigator AU, both of them are a mess, but they try to get better, i'll try to update tags accordingly as the story progress tho, supernatural themes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2020-11-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:27:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25937404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonlight_fairytale/pseuds/moonlight_fairytale
Summary: After graduating from university, Midori is a mess. He can't land a job and ends up returning to his parents' house. That was the reason behind his decision to open a private investigator agency with Mika. Sounds fancy, but their job usually consists of finding missing cats. That's why they never thought they'd get involved in such an odd case.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 16





	1. Case 1.1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note - this is an au that has nothing to do with the canon plot. None of the characters attended yumenosaki or pursued an idol career. Some relationships will be similar to the canon, but I don't want to say too much for the time being.

Today was a bad day. It started with grey skies, even though the forecast said to expect a warm day with a clear sky, and then he couldn't pull himself from bed. Something that had to do with the coldness in his room.

Midori woke up around 9 am but stayed in bed until 1 pm. The only thing that made rise from the bed was the commitment. He didn't mind disappointing himself, as he usually did, but he couldn't let down other people. He knew Mika was waiting for him.

His mom looked worried yet said nothing while he ate lunch. He hated when people stared at him with _that_ expression, especially when he was trying to do what was considered simple tasks for most people. Chewing on vegetables was hard on its own and it took _ages_ , but he supposed he knew someone who had it even harder when it came to food.

It was all relative in life. Hard to stop comparing himself, but sometimes it did help. Although it mostly made him feel useless and unimportant.

The leftovers were packed into a box, for dinner, in case he decides to stay longer. He really didn't know how long it'll take. Sometimes it took a couple of hours, other times he'd come home by midnight. But it was all good. He really did need to get out and interact with people more often, at least that's what the psychologist told him. He can't get any better if he stays cooped in his room.

* * *

Traveling on the train is nerve-wreaking. Walking in the streets the remaining half a mile is also nerve-wreaking. And he already started to regret getting out of bed.

The sight of the familiar building reduced his anxiousness. He speed-walked the rest of the way to the front door, entered the code as quickly as he could, and took the stairs three at a time. Well, it wasn't much of a challenge thanks to his long legs, but he didn't do it oftentimes. It was simply the need to get to a comfort zone and preferably _now_.

Mika was already there, obviously. He seemed to be busy with the mess on his desk and was so focused that he didn't hear to door opening. Midori didn't want to be rude and disturb him, but he didn' t want to scare him either, so he settled on clearing his throat to sign his arrival.

"Ah! Midori-kun, ya came early today!" He jumped a bit, but his smile didn't waver.

"Not really…" Comparing to the time he'd usually come? Yeah, maybe. But Mika was here since 4, which was right after his day job. "But I guess?" He turned to search for an unsuspecting plushie on one of the sofas. His victim was a huge Winnie the Pooh, which was bought at Disneyland in France according to Mika. Midori really adored it, it was fluffy and big enough for him to hug. Ugh, he hated Disney as a company, but their plushies were really high quality. And expensive, which was why he hated them.

"Tough mornin'?" Mika asked, now completely leaving his project to pay attention to Midori.

"Nothing in the morning at all. I woke up at noon." He'd usually be embarrassed to say that out loud, but Mika wouldn't judge him. "There's anything to do? Work maybe?"

Of course, he didn't want to work, but there was so long he could go leeching off of his parents. No requests came in the last week, and that was enough time for him to feel bad about it. Even if the money they made was a small change, it was money nonetheless, and it was some sort of accomplishment. Something that he can tell his psychologist about in their next meeting.

"Nah, sorry. No calls or emails or anythin'. I have some projects if ya wanna help, though." Mika gestured towards the table, which now Midori could recognize as fabrics. Personal projects, then. Not that Mika would ask him to help with his normal job, that wouldn't be very professional of him.

"I guess I can." He moved sluggishly to see what he can help with. He wasn't very good at sewing (and neither was Mika by the number of times he poked himself with the needle), but he hated sitting around and feeling even more useless when he was outside of home. He felt like he was inconveniencing someone if he did so.

"What are you sewing anyway?" Although he hoped for a cute plushie, none of the fabrics seemed to be fluffy. Perhaps it was a commission for a friend? But Mika didn't bring the sewing machine today and sewing by hand was a pain in the ass –

Before Mika could answer, the phone rang. They both immediately jolted and stared at each other. Ugh, why did they get a telephone in the first place? They both hated talking on the phone. They even took turns answering the phone, which, by his counting, would be him for this one.

He dreadfully picked the receiver. "Black Cat Agency, Takamine is speaking."

How many phone calls has he taken to be able to say it so easily? Maybe the psychologist was right and it _was_ good for him.

"Y-you're a private investigator agency, right?" The voice on the other side was shaky and quiet.

"We are. How can we help you?" He said slowly, as if to make sure he was saying the words correctly.

"Can we make an appointment? I-I wish to explain it in person." Huh, that was…odd. The calls would go like _my cat is missing, please find it_ for most of their jobs, and there was the rare occasion of following around a person because their spouse was suspicious, but these were really rare. Then they'd send the information in the email, the payment, too, was done through an application. The only time they'd meet with a client was if they needed to retrieve something physical, and they would never bring him to their office.

"We only work afternoons." He informed the caller.

"That's okay. Yes, that's good. What time are you open tomorrow?"

"Around…" He paused, looking at Mika, who raised four fingers. "You can come around 4 pm. What name should I write for the appointment?"

Mika handed him one the many memo pads they had, the Hello Kitty one they got from a sale – 4 for the price of 2, what a _bargain_ – and a pen of another popular mascot. He scribbled down the client's name right next to Hello Kitty's face.

The call disconnected right afterward and made Midori feel a bit anxious. This was all too mysterious for his taste. Yes, he technically worked as a private investigator, but none of the jobs they took sounded so urgent. 

"So…I guess we'll have t'do some tidyin' up?"

"Ye – " Midori stopped. God, this was worse than taking this call. Their office looked nothing like a proper agency, and the client will come in tomorrow right when they open up. "Uh, I have a bad feeling about that…"

"Just…throw everythin' in the closet. If it's too much to fit in…we'll…do something…about it..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wish me luck with this one...


	2. Case 1.2

The next day, Midori surprised his entire household by waking up the earliest he had in the last few weeks. Not by his own volition, obviously. Yesterday, they…made a mistake. Apparently, their closet wasn't as nearly as big as they thought. After an hour of shoving things into it, they ran out of place. They had to take everything out and decide what to prioritize. Most of the plushies went in – the amount they had was downright scary. They only left the smaller ones and some of their handmade outside, in various corners. Mika liked making them more on the creepier side, which would fit their agency better than the Rilakkuma one. Not to mention that Midori thought the cat-rabbit hybrid was far more adorable.

Unfortunately, they weren't able to finish up the cleaning. Mika really seemed to freak out because of it, so Midori, reluctantly, offered to come in the morning and take care of the rest. It wasn't like he had a job to do anyway.

He didn't feel like getting out of bed today either, to be honest, but Mika has already sent him a list of the things to do, so he _had_ to.

"Are you going out now?" His mother asked him at the table. She was probably hoping to hear that he has decided to search for a job. Ugh, now he had to disappoint her instead.

"Yes, I'm going to…" He stared at his plate, contemplating when was the right time to call quits. This was too much food for breakfast when most times he didn't have one at all. "To Kagehira-san's place."

Both of his parents gave him that _look_. Great, just…great. He can't blame them though. They didn't know Mika, haven't met him once before. They didn't even know that Midori was working for the agency. He's decided to omit that detail because all they knew about Mika was that he was a friend from the support group. At first, they were happy that he was back on track – going to the psychologist, attending the group's meetings, making new friends. But then he had to screw everything, and he ended up quitting the support group and favored spending his time in his room, alone, again.

He wondered what story they made up about the time he's spent the agency. He mentioned helping Mika with his sewing projects, so maybe that was the impression they got. At this point, he was too afraid to ask. What if they start questioning it and he'll have to give an explanation? _Hi mom, dad, I'm a private investigator, but don't worry, we only chase pets once in, like, two weeks. Oh, and we're hardly paid anything. We got more on one bear commission than for our entire work in the last couple of months._ Yeah – no. No way.

"Do you need dinner too?" His mother asked, despite looking discontent with his choices.

"No, I won't be home that late. I think."

* * *

His first stop was not the agency, but a shop for office supplies. They didn't have anything without a mascot on it. How can they see a client with their closet's doors completely covered with stickers? Ah, he should look for a way to hide it. Good call, he'd hate to go out again.

Mika's lists usually started somewhat organized, but as he added more items, the order went out of the window. It was evident that he just wrote down things without thinking about it.

Midori looked at the list. He read the list. He settled on disregarding it completely in the end. They don't need half of it, he knew. Instead, he bought a pack of leather notebooks, the fancy kind, a pack of simple pens, the most boring pen holder he's seen, and two paper trays. Oh, the closet, too. He found curtains in a store down the street. They'll have to hang it on a plastic rod that was made for showers, but whatever. He got a black one so it should look fine from far away.

With his hands full of bags, he's made his way to the agency next. Absolutely exhausted, even more so knowing that was just the beginning of the day.

Mika only took half of the mess on the table. The rest must've been leftovers from previous projects. All to the garbage, just like that. He replaced their cute supplies with the newly bought ones, cleaned the dust off the furniture, reorganized the sofas, and swept the floor. Looking at the office, there wasn't much else he could do.

He thought the end result was fine. It looked a bit mysterious with the black curtains in the back of the room (maybe black wasn't the best choice – ) but he figured Mika would like this addition, so they'll probably keep it.

He flopped onto the sofa, amazed by how much he was able to get done in such a short time. He just hoped he didn't use the energy supply for the next week for this task.

Mika came half an hour earlier than he'd usually come (At least to Midori's knowledge, he was never present to see so). He stormed into the office, his entire body shaking. "Nnah!" He said before stopped at his tracks. "Midori-kun? Ya were here from the mornin'?"

"Yes…I'm so…tired."

"Wah! The office looks amazin'! Ah, did ya put the black curtains there? It looks like a secret passage!"

"Well, I tried my best."

"Ya did a good job!" Mika petted his head, a gesture he was yet to get used to. "Did ya have lunch already?"

Oh, right, lunch. Shit.

"I figured so! I couldn't finish mine so if ya wanna have it, please do. It's really delicious, I promise."

Midori didn't need to be told twice and took up on his offer. It must be the exercise he's had while cleaning because he was starving. He supposed he didn't exert that amount of energy anymore.

"I wonder who is our client, huh." Mika said out loud after a few minutes of silence (barring Midori's chewing noises.)

"I have a bad feeling about this job." He supplied.

"But that's how ya always feel about new jobs."

_Touché._

"That may be true, but why would anyone come here in the first place? Why not over the phone? Or, better, through emails?"

"Hey, some people are not that great with technology, yanno." Was Mika talking about himself? Midori knew he didn't have a cellphone until his late teens.

"She sounded young."

"Guess we'll have t'see once she comes."

The next 20 minutes passed down excruciatingly slow. Midori was about to fall asleep when the door finally opened.

In the threshold stood a young woman, dressed in a fashionable suit. Now that he thought about it, he was the only one wearing a hoodie with a pair of jeans. At least Mika had his white "I'm totally an adult" sweater.

"Are you….the Black Cat Agency?" She was hesitant, keeping a distance from them. "There wasn't a sign on the door, so I wasn't sure…"

Yep, that was the voice from yesterday alright. Also, they _did_ have a sign, was it taken again? Dangit. That got him a bit annoyed.

"We are." Mika stood up to greet her. Even with his smile, Midori could tell he was shaky in his steps. He recognized that, Mika being on alert because strangers scared him.

But he did step forward to introduce both him and Midori, and that was really admirable. Moments like these reminded Midori how much he respected Mika.

He also couldn't let Mika bear all the anxiety. They were partners, according to their website, at least.

"Please, have a seat." He gestured towards the sofas.

"Oh, thank you." She sat down but still seemed uncomfortable. It made sense, Midori and Mika are quite to pair to ran into. In this profession, he supposed, it was good to stand out.

"Thank you so much for meeting me on such short notice, I really appreciate that." She said, making Midori try his best not to laugh. The last job they had was _ages_ ago, if anything, they should be grateful to her. "I…need your help."

"Of course." Mika's smile widened. He finally started to relax, sitting next to Midori, in his own office. Really, he was in a much better position than the lady across them. "How can we be of help t'ya, Ms. Chiba?"

"Yes, about that…" She's stopped to look at her lap, all while Midori and Mika stared at her intensely. That couldn't be a case of a lost pet, right? If it was that serious, why did she turn to them? They weren't an accomplished agency or had many recommendations. "I'll have to tell you the entire story first, it's a bit of a long explanation, so please, bear with me."

She took a breath and started. "My parents, they…they have divorced over twenty years ago. I lived with my mother and had little to no connection with my father. A few years ago, my paternal grandfather died. In his will, he decided to leave me some of his fortune and his house. However, there was a condition - I'll only receive the house after I get married. That was only regarding the house, strangely enough, but I never questioned it because at the time I lived with my mother and didn't have any plans to move out. But now…"

"You're getting married?" Midori concluded.

"Yes, I am." Ms. Chiba said with a slight smile. "Next year, in fact. I don't want to sell it because it was my grandfather's wish. After a talk with my fiancé, we agreed on moving into the house."

"Alright, so…why did ya want to meet us?" Mika asked, saying what Midori was thinking as well.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I got carried away." She apologized. "The problem is the house. After my grandfather's funeral, I renewed the connections with my father's family. They…told me that strange things had occurred in the house – "

"You mean, it's cursed?" Midori stopped her mid-sentence. He sure hoped he was mistaken, and she was referring to something else.

"I can't say, neither do I believe it, but they were insisted on warning me. Not to move into the house, to sell it as fast as I could."

"But that could be jealousy on their side." Mika said. "Not only ya inherited some of the money, but ya also got the property. They probably weren't that happy about that."

"Exactly." Midori agreed. "You were a stranger, yet for some reason, you got the house. It must be the thing with the highest value in your grandfather's will."

"It is. it's a big house in an upscale neighborhood. I was also suspicious of their intention. But my husband wanted to be certain. He believes in such things and after hearing me talking to my aunt on one occasion, he went around the neighborhood to ask. All the neighbors were wary of him when he told them we will move into the house. I've started to grow anxious because of that, so that's why…" She stopped to look at them. "That's why I want to hire you, to check the house and confirm there is nothing wrong with it!"

Midori was at loss. Why the hell did she think they were qualified to deal with it? A _cursed_ house?! They weren't exorcists, for God's sake, just some amateurish PI agency! Was she aware of the fact that PI in Japan didn't need to have a license to operate?

"We're probably not the first ya went to, right?" Mika was the one to respond.

"You weren't. The first investigator I hired said nothing came up, but later, I learned that he only took my money and did no research at all. He doesn't believe in the occult and dismissed my story from the beginning." Yikes, talk about people in this occupation. "I went to many investigators after him, but none of them wanted to hear me!" _Reasonable,_ Midori thought, no investigator would want to get involved with a crazy lady who thought her house was cursed or haunted, and the ones who would were definitely looking for easy money.

"But – on your site, it said that you're a fan of the occult!"

 _It did?!_ Midori almost whipped his head to look at Mika but managed to stop at the last second. Of course it _did_. Ugh, that was his punishment for letting Mika run wild and write their entire website.

"I understand ya, Ms. Chiba." Mika offered his hand. "We'll take yer case."

And _that_ was his second punishment, for letting Mika be in charge. Ah, what a pain…

"Thank you so much!" She bowed.

He really wanted to die right now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll have to admit I enjoy writing it way too much. I love both Midori and Mika too much,,,


	3. Case 1.3

After Ms. Chiba left, Midori excused himself. He wanted to bury his face in his pillow for the rest of the day.

_Go ahead,_ Mika told him, _I'll send ya an email with all the information she gave us later. Yer probably so tired!_

It was less about the exhaustion and more about the headache he got while trying to wrap his head around what had just happened. What were they going to do? And, suppose it was cursed, what will they do _then_? Call a monk? Perform a ritual? They may not need a license for this, either, but if they do it, they won't be any better than the first guy who scammed her.

_No, no_. The voice of reason in his head informed him, _you're already at his level because you accepted the job. Curses don't exist, right? So why would a cursed house exist?_

He stared at his ceiling. That wasn't true, though. She asked them to confirm the house is fine. If they search it thoroughly and come to the conclusion it wasn't cursed, because it obviously couldn't be, then they wouldn't be scamming her. Sure, it's a bit shady to take money if they don't believe it, but they deserved getting paid for a job they do. In addition to the fact that Mika did believe in ghosts and demons for sure, so it was only Midori who was skeptical.

Despite his best tries to convince himself so he could sleep peacefully, he found it hard to fall asleep. And just before he did, he received a message from Mika, telling him they'll meet at the location tomorrow, due to its distance, with a reminder to wear his best clothes.

_Reason number 4_ to why accepting this job was a terrible idea – the house was an hour drive away from him, _and_ he had to switch two trains. Midori was grumpy enough at having to cast aside his favorite t-shirt and borrow a polo from his father, and now he couldn't even rest on the train.

Mika sent him the address of a nearby café, smartly choosing to meet up there beforehand to go over the details. Midori recognized the name of the café, it was one that hosted themes a few times during the year and was currently holding an event for one of the mascots he absolutely loved. Trust Mika to soften the landing.

He found Mika quite easily. Even without the obvious reason of Mika standing out, half of the customers stared at him. Poor thing, should have not come that early.

"Midori-kun!" He waved at him. He was nervous if the way he played with his teacup was any indication. "I already ordered fer ya. They'll serve it soon, so ya can drink the tea in the meanwhile."

"Thank you, Kagehira-san." He slid into the seat. Even though Mika had ordered, one menu was still left on the table, presumably for Midori to see and fawn over the cuteness of the design. They dressed up the entire cast in pastel sailor costumes.

"Adorable…" He mumbled to himself while his finger traced the drawings on the menu. "Too adorable…"

"Ha, I'm really surprised ya actually had some proper clothin'."

"I didn't." He pulled at his sleeve. "My father lent me one of his shirts."

"Eeh, I guess I shoulda known. Oh well, doesn't matter." Mika smiled and sipped from his tea. "It's good y'got it 'cause we're goin' to a rich neighborhood. If we're dressed up too sloppy, they won't talk to us."

"Do they look that much at what we wear?" Midori frowned.

"Aha!" Mika gestured with his point finger upwards. "Definitely! We gonna question people so we wanna look at least trustworthy."

"Ooh." Midori thought he understood what Mika was implying. Still, who would've thought Mika was so serious in his detective work that he'd go that far? "I see. Is it going to be okay, though?"

"Nnah, what d'ya mean?"

"We're going to talk with strangers after all." Midori wasn't keen on doing so, but if he had to, he'll do it. Probably with many complaints, but he will. Mika, however, always had a hard time talking to people, especially in large groups.

"Yeah." Even when saying it, there was no confidence in his voice. If anything, his face grew paler. "We gotta. How else can we dig up info 'bout the place?"

"Can we not ask the family directly? They know the best."

Mika looked a bit puzzled. "Sure they do, but I don't think they'll take well for a PI gettin' involved…"

"Ah, right. So we must go in such a roundabout way. What a pain…"

"Ahm, excuse me, your orders…" The waiter seemed to finally arrive and distract them from their conversation. She placed a plate with pancakes for Mika and strawberry shortcake for Midori.

"Oh, thank ya kindly!" Mika flashed a rare, wide smile, one that was usually reserved for those who brought him his sweet food.

"N-no problem." She quickly retreated with a flushed face.

"Kagehira-san, you can't keep doing it." Midori joked. His mood was starting to lift up now that he saw the shortcake with the cute flag atop of it. He'll keep that one for sure.

"Wha, me? Nah, I'm pretty sure yer face was too handsome for her." Mika stuck his tongue out. Midori couldn't believe they both tried to pass for functional adults when they clearly weren't…

" Ah." A revelation struck him. Mika's ears perked up at the change in his expression. "What if we say we're friends of the family? Y'know, like how the fiancé believes in the occult? Say we're trying to check on his behalf because he's too busy with the wedding preparations or something, and Ms. Chiba is too skeptical."

"Midori-kun!" Mika's entire face lightened up. "Yer a genius! I'll send Ms. Chiba a message right now to see if it's possible to arrange a meeting!"

Good. At least Midori was somewhat useful. And this cake was delicious. Maybe this day will turn up decent after all.

"So we'll go 'round the neighborhood a bit today, see if we can find anythin' from the neighbors, and we'll talk to the family next week. How 'bout that?" Mika summarized.

"Fine by me." Midori shrugged. The part where they talk to the family will be the hardest out of the two tasks, but that was for another day. Today has today's tasks, like his psychologist often said.

"And before we leave…" Mika pointed at the area next to the counter. "They put cardboard of two of the characters there. I thought ya might wanna take pictures."

"Kagehira-san!" Ugh, he was actually getting excited. He couldn't help it, though, Mika knew him too well and used it to his advantage.

* * *

"So, um, how do we go about it?" Questioning people was, unsurprisingly and undoubtfully, easier said than done. They stood in the street, next to the house, for almost half an hour with no success. There weren't many people outside, maybe due to the hour, and perhaps due to the small size of the community. There were only three houses on each side of the street. They were all larger than Midori had expected, and the house they will investigate soon was no exception. Although it looked different from outside. The other houses were obviously well-kept and were renovated during the years, but Ms. Chiba's house wasn't. a tall wooden fence blocked most of the view, but Midori could tell the walls were moldy and the roof missed plenty of tiles. Even the fence, despite being built from what Midori thought to be good material, was heavily damaged. If it were any other neighborhood, he would chalk it up as the doing of some bratty kids, but this was, as quoted by Mika, a _rich neighborhood_.

"Ugh, I dunno…I thought it'll go better…"

"Please don't say something like, _but in the movies there's always someone_."

"Y'know I don't watch that kind of movies!"

"Oh, do I know." Mika's favorite genre was, for some odd reason, horror. The gory type, as well. Midori didn't mind the theme of creepy-cute, but gore? No thank you.

Before Mika could protest, a lady with a stroller across the street took notice of them. "Are you new here?" She asked. "I haven't seen you before."

"Oh, no, no." Mika stepped closer. "We're here to film a movie. Like, the strangest houses in Japan."

Ah, so that was their cover. Mika put some thought into it, as he suspected. Anyway, Midori just had to go along with it. "We're scouting the area before filming." He pointed at the house in question. "Don't worry, we got permission from the owners." He made sure to clarify.

"I see." She said, taking a look at her baby in the stroller before crossing the street to them. "I thought you were moving to the neighborhood." Did they dress that nicely? What a surprise. "But if it's that house, then it's no wonder."

"Really? Are ya familiar with it, uh, sorry, Miss, we haven't introduced ourselves, how rude of us. I'm Kagehira Mika." She was definitely taken aback by Mika's dialect now that he spoke more than a few words.

"Takamine Midori." Midori added, trying to sound less blank. Mika did warn him about it – they have to be as friendly as they can to make people feel comfortable.

"And yer name?"

"Oh my." She giggled, putting a hand next to her mouth. "I'm Usazaki Reina. Kagehira-kun, was it? Are you from Kyoto? My husband was born there…" All of a sudden, she was more interested in Mika's background than in the movie. Why did people care so much for the mindless small talk? It was a waste of time, especially when they had a case to investigate.

"Eh, from a small city next to Kyoto, actually, but I've lived there fer a couple of years." Midori nudged Mika with his elbow. "Oh, right. The film we're doing is a documentary. If ya got any info 'bout the house, from someone who lived in the street, it'll be a great help."

"Yes, after all, the house stood empty for five years. None of the family members we spoke to lived here recently."

"I can't blame them." She looked less cheery. "Nothing good ever happened in that house. The opposite if I must say. Only misfortunes fell on its residents."

"Like what? D'ya have an example?"

"The previous owner…you must have heard from the family. He was very ill, yet died after falling down the stairs."

"It happens sometimes, and if we consider his age, it would make sense he slipped…" Midori aimed for a softer tone, to not deter her hopefully, but make her explain herself. People did tend to make connections that didn't exist because that's how the human brain is wired. To see a pattern and convince the person of its existence, or so he read in an article.

"If it was the only case, perhaps I would say you're right. But every owner died of unnatural causes, is it not odd? Oh – well, that's what I've heard. I've been \living here for only six years, so it's knowledge from rumors going around the neighborhood."

"Hm. And there probably aren't residents on the street who would happen to know, right?" Mika turned to look down the street.

"Yes, how did you…?"

"Ah, sorry, sorry." He dropped the serious expression. "We ran a research 'head of time and most of the neighbors in this community are new. 80% of them have been livin' here fer less than five years."

What research. When did he have the time? Geez, at least one of them was well-prepared.

"Oh!" Ms. Usazaki was impressed as well. "Is this for a TV movie?"

"Nah, it'll be on the internet."

"I'll look forward to that!" Hopefully, she won't because there was nothing to expect for. "Well, I should head home already. It was very nice to meet you!"

"Likewise." They both said, although Midori did less enthusiastically. He was still stuck on the research he didn't know about.

Once she was out of sight, he immediately asked about it. "When did you conduct research?"

"Last night, I didn't know if it'll be of use, but guess it did. Didn't tell ya because ya were so busy with the cardboard…"

"How do you even find out about things like that?" He didn't mind that Mika didn't tell him; he wasn't wrong about Midori caring more for the café's theme.

"Ya check in real estate sites the houses for sales, and then ya can see previous sales in the neighborhood if it was sold by the same agency. Go 'round a few sites to cover the entire area, and that's how ya build a profile for the community."

That was…a bit scary.

"It must've taken you hours to do it…"

"Nah, not really!" Mika was quick to dismiss. "There aren't many houses anyway."

Yeah, right. Like Midori was buying that.

They decided to stand out for another hour, just in case, in which they mostly look at the house and took notes of it. The evening was drawing near, with no sight of another person coming up, while they were busy talking about how they'll make the best use of their time.

"How big is it?" Midori tried to estimate with his eyes, with no success. "I suppose no one came to dust the place?"

"Nope, we'll go in tomorrow or the day afterward, and we hafta bring masks." Mika checked the fence by slightly pulling it. "Hold on, I've got the house plans if ya wanna see."

"Ms. Chiba gave them to you?"

"Yeah, she emailed me them this morning." He pulled a file from his bag. "Here ya go."

"God, it's a huge house." He counted six bedrooms and four bathrooms. Alongside an enormous kitchen and… "Two dinning rooms? Are you sure we'll be able to search _everything_?"

"No choice here, Midori-kun, we're bein' paid t'do it."

Midori groaned. "But it'll take forever with just the two of us…I'm already getting tired just thinking about it…"

"Who are you?" A deep voice, coming behind of them, suddenly spoke in a harsh tone, causing them to jump and face a middle-aged man. Judging by his outfit, he was most likely a resident here, and his angry face wasn't a good sign.

Mika was rendered speechless, probably overtaken by his anxiety, with the addition of the scary-looking _man_ , and Midori tried to open his mouth, throw out some explanation, but no sound came out.

He looked at Midori's shaking hands, holding that map, then continued. "Are you from the city hall?"

"Yes…?" Midori was finally able to say, with uncertainty in his voice.

"Took you a while!" His face still held a harsh expression. "I always said this house is a hazard! So, when are you taking it down?"

Midori could feel Mika's shivering hand on his arm, ugh, guess he'll have to take command this time. "It's not my decision. We document what we find and pass it to…pass it forward." Shit, he had to correct himself. Like he had a clue what he was saying. "Then it's on a waiting list."

"Damn bureaucracy. Can't you handle it faster?"

"No, as I said, not our decision." Midori said slowly. He hated dealing with that type, they never listen, and he was drained enough already as it was. "Why did care so much, anyway? Is the house that ugly that it bothers you when you eat by the table or something?"

"Yes, it's very _unsightly_." The man was just as snarkier.

Okay, this wasn't good. Maybe this wasn't the right way to go about it. Midori didn't want to get into a fight because he _knew_ neither him nor Mika could stand a chance against him. "Well, that's what we're here for, so how about you let us do our job? Or else we might take _longer_."

The man huffed. "Fine, do your jobs then. I want to see this cursed house down."

"Cursed? Is it that bad?" His heartbeat quickened and Mika's hold on his arm tightened. It could be a lead, but…

"That bad? We walked past this damn house and one of the windows just shattered, right on my wife! She had to get five stitches because of it! Last year, the person across the street – " He pointed at a light blue house. "Washed his car in the street when the tree in the front yard collapsed on his car! And that's just two incidents, I've heard many more stories about this house."

"Duly noted, sir, I'll make sure to tell my supervisor of these…accidents." Short and curt, they got what they needed. "Now, if you don't mind, it's well past our working hours."

"Again with the bureaucracy? You government workers just can't do any work!" Midori didn't want to listen to him anymore, he dragged Mika in the opposite direction to the man in long strides, just to get rid of him. He didn't even know if it was the right way to the train.

"You're alright, Kagehira-san?" He asked, looking back to make sure the man hasn't followed them.

"Yeah…sorry, I just…froze up…"

"It's alright, let's get you home first, okay? You'll have to direct me, though, I don't know the area so well."

Taking Mika meant he prolonged the return to his home. It should be at least an hour back to their district, and Mika's apartment was twenty minutes away from his own house. Of course, he couldn’t leave Mika on his own, not in this state, it wouldn't be _right_ , he has to help him, that what he –

"Midori-kun? W-why did ya stop?"

"Nothing, just remembered something bothersome. It's not important, so let's go on."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soo, it's still Midori's birthday where I live, so happy birthday to him ^^  
> On a different note, the next update might take me longer to post because I'm having two exams in the following two weeks orz wish me luck orz


	4. Case 1.4

It was only when he returned home that he realized how bad the situation was. Sure, in his case, it wouldn't mean much since he was already a good-for-nothing freeloader, but Mika had work tomorrow. Midori knew how hard it was to try and go on about his life normally when all he wanted was to stay at home. He made sure to send Mika a message, even though he escorted him right to his doorstep.

_I'm okay! Thank you for asking!_ Really, couldn't Mika take this more seriously? He was all too diligent with his detective work, but he had to be more cautious about the people they get involved with. This time, Midori was able to get them away, but if the situation would've escalated…he would've not been able to do anything. _Good for absolutely nothing, useless, basically_. He couldn't fight anyone, even if it was for Mika's sake…

He rummaged through his drawer, looking at all the things he's kept from long ago. He should've thrown them away, it was just sentimental crap, anyway…

"Ah, so it's still here." He took out a keychain. It still smelled like cheap plastic, the paint job on the face was hideous, and there was the one leg that got broken when he got it out of the machine.

He should've thrown away that garbage, but he was never able to bring himself to do so. Instead, he threw it back to the drawer.

He was woken in the morning by a phone call. Still groggy from sleep, he barely recognized the letters on his screen, and after the words registered in his head, he answered.

"Kagehira-san…?" His voice was a bit hoarse from only being woken up.

"Ah, did I wake ya up? Sorry, Midori-kun!" It sounded like he was much better. _Good_. "I just wanted to make sure ya don't come to the office today!"

"Something happened?" He finally rose up from his bed, rubbing his eyes. "Are we not continuing the investigation?" Truthfully, that would be for the best, but he'd hate if it were caused by the wrong reason. It seemed like Midori still possessed some pride inside his heart, or otherwise, he would've not felt this annoyance building up when thinking about the possibility of quitting a case because of one stupid man.

"Nah! No-pe! No way!~" Mika was too cheerful. It was almost suspicious. "We're definitely continuin' it, and we're goin' the find out the truth and resolve it!"

Midori couldn't feel angry about it. Even if it was exhausting, he had to admit he was starting to get curious as well. The woman from yesterday – uh, Midori already forget her name – she told them about how the house owners died of unnatural causes, and then the evil man told them about the incidents. Not only the family of Ms. Chiba was affected, but the neighbors were hurt too. 

"So what now?"

"Well, ya remember how ya got the amazin' idea to call the family of Ms. Chiba?"

"Yes?"

"I asked Ms. Chiba and she promised she'll update me 'bout that. And she just told me her cousin is adamant on us talkin' to her before goin' in the house."

Only troubles there…Midori couldn't imagine anything good coming out of the family involvement. If they’re so insistent, they'll only obstruct their investigation. "So we'll have to wait for her to find some time for us? The house is large enough, Ms. Chiba must know it'll take a while..."

"Yeah, 'bout that…she's fine with it. She doesn't mind waitin' a little longer."

"What? But – Kagehira-san! If we wait too long, won't we be pressured to finish up quickly when the wedding date is approaching?"

"We will, that's why I wanted to ask ya for a favor…"

Oh, Midori recognized that tone. "To go and talk to her on my own?"

"…Yeah…"

"Kagehira-san, this is not some scheme to get out of this conversation, right?" He just had to confirm.

"Absolutely not! I would've come with ya, but work right now…y'know how my project was finally approved last week? Now my boss wants me to make a presentation, for next week!"

_Poor, poor Kagehira-san_. His boss was really something else. Always so demanding, asking for Mika to do overtime every other week. He might not know about Mika's side profession, but it was unreasonable to work your employees so much. Was he not aware of the concept of personal life? _Outside_ of work?

"Fine, I'll do that. You don't have to convince me that much. We're partners, after all."

He took more time debating on what to wear than on showering. If he's going to meet someone, most of his current clothes wouldn't do. 

"Mom!" He shouted from the bathroom. "I need to borrow one of dad's shirts again!"

"Here, here." She stood outside the bathroom and handed him a button-up. Ugh, it wouldn't fit him well, he knew it. "Are you going out again?"

"Yeah…" She kept waiting next to the half-opened door. Like she expected him to tell her his plans for today. That was the worst part about returning to his parents' house. How they treated him, like a child who needs their permission and not a fully grown adult. He supposed it was his fault, he never did anything to prove his adultness, if anything, he only caused them troubles…

"With Kagehira-san again?"

_Noo, I'm going to investigate a case._ He almost said that out loud. How else can he explain it? "Sure."

"I just wonder…" She helped him straighten the shirt. "You keep asking for your father's shirts…are you, perhaps, going on a date?"

"With whom? Kagehira-san?" He retorted without thinking. That…was a mistake. She just shrugged, making his stomach flip.

"Mom…you really don't think that, right?" Did she worry so much that she had to delude herself thinking he was at least trying to date someone? Especially now that he didn't work, all he did was making both her and his father worried. "It's nothing like that. I told you that I help Kagehira-san with his work, and today he asked me to meet a…client, so I just thought it's best to dress up nicely."

Her expression changed, with her eyes sparkling all of a sudden. "Oh! So Kagehira-san is helping you to find a job?"

Lies on top of lies. He became such a despicable man, one that even lies to his parents. "Something like that."

* * *

"Kagehira-san, this girl is nuts!" Midori complained. "Completely, absolutely, positively crazy."

It took Mika a few seconds to answer. He was probably working while speaking to him on the phone. "Are ya sure? She didn't sound crazy when I talked to her…"

"Oh, _oh, oooh_ , Kagehira-san, you were deceived." Midori grumbled. He took a look at the trains' schedule, but his train wasn't supposed to arrive for the next half an hour. Why did people always want to meet at such distant places with terrible transportation? "I ask her to explain, give some example, and _every_ fucking word she knocks on the table. A plastic table, Kagehira-san! It's not even wood!"

"Glad to hear yer in a good mood." Mika joked. He always said that whenever Midori raised his voice.

"Please…I want to see you trying to handle her."

"Well, uh, that aside, did ya get any useful information? Or she just wasted yer time for two hours?"

"She wasted my time for about an hour and fifty minutes, but…" He pinched the bridge of his nose while recalling the bullshit she was spouting. "There were some interesting details in the remaining ten minutes. I think we should talk in the office and not on the phone."

"Yeah, it'll make it easier. How 'bout tomorrow?"

"Sure thing. Just be warned – I'm including her hands gestures."

He didn't realize that when he arrived at their office he was actually wearing another of his father's shirts, until Mika pointed it out. _Are ya upgradin' yer closest, Midori-kun?_ He guessed that he was acting automatically after the last few days, going for his parents' closet without even thinking (or asking permission, oops).

"Here, she gave me this." He handed Mika a file and laid on the sofa. Today's victim was a bear plushie that he helped Mika fix. He was very fond of Kumataro – as he was named by Mika – and enjoyed hugging it because it was just the right size to cuddle with.

"Is it…?"

"Don't get too excited. It's just some things she dug up from the internet."

"The seven curses of… _what_? That has nothin' to do with the house, though. Why did she give ya this?"

Midori stared at him before answering. "To make a point? There are several articles, too. She said the accidents there are similar to what's happened in the house. How so, she couldn't explain. She's never lived there…"

"Hm…I think I know some of these cases. I bet she already told ya everythin'?"

"Yep. I even made a list of _weird things that happened,_ according to her. Just to save you the time of reading through the articles. It's included in the report I made."

"Midori-kun…"

"Don't look so proud of me. I'm doing my job as a partner, right?"

"Right, right, sorry." Mika, out of all people, should know that he hated being praised over simple tasks. He was the one who told him he's capable of doing things, even with his mental condition. He was the one who taught how to get out of bed, even when he felt like it was too late to do anything. The one who offered him to start up the agency, so he'll have something to do, even if it was the smallest thing. Now turned into investigating a _cursed_ house. Life could be so bizarre sometimes…

Mika took a look at his summarized report with awe. Midori spent more time than he'd like to admit on organizing it into a template he'd found online. He started with the pointers he wrote during his meeting with the cousin, but when he came home, he realized it won't do. He figured it was best to type out everything and print it in the closest convenience store on his way out. He couldn't bring his notebook, after all. The notes shared their space with doodles he drew once the meeting got too boring for him.

The report was divided into three parts. The first was an overview, mostly the background as it was supplied by Ms. Chiba during their first meeting – Midori included it because, hey, why the hell not, he was already typing. After that, he wrote down the suspicious accidents, the stories they've both heard from the neighbors, and the stories from the cousin, referenced by the articles. The last part was information he got from Mika – the house plans, a list of previous owners and their backgrounds, review on the street, and some legal papers.

"Wha, it's even color-coded! Did ya save the original file? We could update it with the investigation!"

"I'll put it on our server when I'm home." There was some part in Midori that was happy with Mika's reaction. It was stupid. He had projects in school he's put more effort into, this was merely the work of a few hours. He knew he improve the file even more. In fact, he _will_ do it.

"Great! Nnah, I wish we could go there now…"

"Don't sweat over it. You should finish your actual work before. I'll go buy the supplies in the meanwhile. What else do we need besides masks and gloves?"

One thing led to another, and he ended up staying to help Mika with his presentation. He was typing and designing the slides, with no clue as to what he was writing and if the images he used were any good. Mika was busy putting together the programs in his weird designing program, and once in a while, looked at the presentation and told Midori he could continue. He was back home at midnight, so tired, but not sleepy enough. For some weird reason, he had enough energy to work on their investigation file before he uploaded it. Where did that stubbornness come from? Today he was really surprising himself.

"I honestly dunno how to thank ya, Midori-kun. I don't think I would've been able to finish it up on my own…"

"Eh, it's fine."

"Who knew ya could type so fast, though? And make such beautiful slides? My boss thought it looked suuuper professional. He even said he had no comments!"

"It's my specialty. I did it in university too, instead of doing the actual research…"

"There's a virtue in that, y'know. I'm supposed to be a designer, but my brain freezes when my boss tells me I gotta use powerpoint."

Midori didn't believe that his procrastination over the small details could compare to the hours of research, but he took the compliment and didn't mull over it.

"Where do we start, then?" Mika wondered.

"Hopefully, at the front door." Which caused Mika to roll his eyes, but a small smile did form on his face.

"Y'know what? I think I'm gonna let ya enter through the window. Just for bein' a smartass."

"Huh."

"On the second floor. It's surely not a problem for ya."

"Ha ha, very funny. You do remember that I'm the one with the keys, right?"

"Aww, shoot. Fine, go ahead."

Although they were wearing masks, he could still smell the nasty air of a house that wasn't properly aired in years. He was hesitant in his first step, choosing to follow after Mika into the hallway, and stared at their task for the day.

Seeing the state of the hallway, he wanted to nope out of there. The exhaustion of yesterday must've been catching up too because he started to feel drowsy, and the difficulty of keeping eyes open he'd experienced in the train suddenly multiplied. He was really tempted on taking a nap, but at the same time, he didn't _want_ to. He could see layers of dust in different shades of gray, grime piling up on the floor, spider webs in the corners of the room.

"Kagehira-san…could've they not gotten a cleaning service perhaps? This place is…awful…"

"I think it's just the hallway and maybe one room up on the second floor. Ms. Chiba said the window here – " He pointed at what used to be marbled glass windows on each side of the door (now so dirty it was impossible to see through it) "It was broken for some winters, so it got the place all messed up."

"And when you say a room on the second floor, you mean the one with the window that shattered on that wife?"

"Yep, the rest should be better."

"Still, investigating such a disgusting place…" He almost puked, recalling a time when he had to clean his clubroom during high school and found a dead rat. At that time, he absolutely refused to get close to it and had to get one of his friends to get rid of it. "If there are any… _dead bodies_ , you're taking care of it."

"Alrighty!" Mika completely ignored him. "Let's start!"

" _Fine_. You can take the hallway and I'll do the, uh, living room?" he walked down the hallway, to the next room, through a fancy doorway, which allowed him to see the living room before entering it.

The hallway itself had a few cabinets alongside the wall, but not much else, so it should be fairly easy for Mika to finish it quickly. The living room, on the other hand, was huge. No, huge was an understatement. It was the size of three bedrooms in Midori's house, _combined._ It was filled with various items of furniture. Three sofas, two couches, and a coffee table were what he was able to see through the doorway. And when he entered the room, he discovered a sideboard, with no TV on it, unsurprisingly, and more cabinets in the back of the room. The rug underneath his feet definitely has known better days, Midori couldn't even tell if it was really gray or used to be a different color.

He groaned before steeling himself and turned to the sofas first. Somewhere in the back of his head, he knew that getting the key itself was enough trouble for Ms. Chiba, since she wasn't supposed to inherit the house for another year, at least. She had to convince the lawyer handling the property to give her the key, with the promise of touching nothing, lest she made any changes before she legally owned it. Cleaning was considered a change, as well, and it sucked, but it had a reason and he had to accept it.

There was nothing wrong with the sofas. The only strange thing was the lack of pillows, but he wasn't sure it counted. There were a few tears in some places, revealing the foam underneath, and its color was a faded green that reminded him of puke. Midori didn't know if the fabric was expensive, but he assumed so. Mika might've had more input on that, so he noted to ask later. There was nothing underneath the sofas, nothing behind them, heck, there was nothing above them, he _checked_. The couches bore the same fate, although their condition was slightly better.

_Time to be thorough, then_. He took a box cutter from his bag and cut through the fabric, starting with the existing tears. In a hindsight, it might've not been the right tool for this job. It took a few tries and required lots of pressure to be able to strip off the fabric. He took off the foam afterward and threw it on the ground. Maybe it was good that Ms. Chiba didn't get a cleaning company, actually.

The sofas looked funny without their cover; the frame reminded him of a bare wooden bench. He almost laughed at that. Still, it was as normal as it gets. Old and dusty, but a normal sofa nonetheless.

With the sofas being proved innocent, he stared at the table. There was nothing on it, and with cautious crouching to not touch the rug, he confirmed there was nothing beneath it, besides more spider webs. He had to replace his gloves after that because he accidentally got his hand too close to the leg of the table. Ugh, good thing there weren't any spiders.

Next, he checked the paintings. He took each of them down, inspected the wall behind them, and returned them to their respective place. He wondered if having a safe behind a painting was just a movie cliché because the only thing he saw was a wall in a shade lighter and no more. And, well, maybe it sounded stupid, but he squinted at the paintings to see if there was something strange about them. He didn’t want to touch them too much, in fear of ruining a potential source of money, so staring at them was the limits of what he's allowed himself.

He didn't know what he looked for. A moving painting? Changing pictures? Midori wasn't sure exactly what a cursed house entailed.

"Are you cursed?" He asked a specific portrait of a bearded western man. "Who are you, anyway? Why do people hang up portraits of strangers? Is it a thing, to wake up to see the face of someone you don't know?"

The painting, obviously, didn't answer any of his questions.

He had no luck with neither sideboard nor the cabinets.

Mika went to check on him after he finished with the hallway, visibly impressed by Midori's ability to tear apart sofas, and then went to search one of the dining rooms. One, seriously, who had two in their house? Two separate as in two rooms, and not, like, a nice table in the kitchen. It was bothering him more than it should, and he told Johnny, the bearded western, that. Johnny was insisted on remaining silent, though.

It took Midori hours to go through all the drawers. He found books and some paperwork. Some files with legal documentation, which he would've liked to give Ms. Chiba, but the paper was damp and the ink smeared at most of the pages. It took him a while to make out what all these files were.

"How are ya doin'?" Mika showed next to the doorway.

"Tired and doubtful. Everything is in the condition you'd expect it to be after too many years of neglect." He put back the stack of papers he held to the drawer and close it. "I haven't seen anything out of place."

"Same here, dining room number 1 is also clear and I couldn't find anythin' in the hallway besides moldy spots on the ceiling." Mika sighed.

"Are we stopping here?"

"Yeah, I don't wanna stay for too long. Even with the masks, it can't be very healthy."

They left the house, locking the door after them. Outside, the sky was already dark, and with a quick look at his watch, Midori realized it was nearly 8. He didn't realize they've spent that much time inside, he was too busy fighting the sofas…

"Wanna grab dinner?" Mika offered on their way to the train. "I think there's a nice place next to the station, and I still next to repay ya for all the help."

"If it's free, sure." Mika grinned at his response.

The next day, Midori was half asleep on the train. He felt confident enough now that he knew the route and was able to doze off on the second train.

There were still many rooms to inspect and there were only two of them. They've tried to come up with a plan to be more efficient, but it was hard to estimate how long each room would take because of the massive amount of furniture.

He stared at the scenery outside the window, clutching his back bag in his lap. He was too deep in his thoughts about how miserable he felt and how much he didn't want to return to that place, that he almost missed the person calling him. A familiar and obnoxiously loud voice, someone he didn't think he'd come across.

"TAKAMINE!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My notes for this chapter literally included "a wild senpai appeared!" lol   
> Anyways, this chapter turned waaay too long, I don't the rest would be this long (hopefully, it took me like a week to write it)


	5. Case 1.5

This house was cursed. It really was. Otherwise, Midori had no explanation for what was happening right now.

"Takamine? Are you ignoring me?"

"Ugh…" He didn't want to deal with him. "Senpai, we're on the train and you're being too loud…everyone will start to stare at us…"

"Hm? Oh! Sorry!" Despite looking genuine, his voice was still as loud as before. He hopped to the seat next to Midori. "Sorry! I was just surprised to see you here, Takamine. Isn't it far from your house?"

"I'm…helping a friend." He answered, reluctantly.

"Helping a friend! Good job, Takamine!" Midori cringed at his words. And the tone, as well. People _did_ look at their direction, most likely because of that.

"Senpai…"

"Right! Lower my voice! We shouldn't bother people on the train!" At least Chiaki got social norms. While he tried hard to be quieter, his voice sounded excited. "Is that the friend from the support group?"

Midori's eyes widened. He knew? How did he – "My mom told you?"

"Yes!"

He should've known. "I can't believe you're still in contact with her." Chiaki formed a weird connection with his parents, God knows how, during high school. He always took advantage of that to barge into his house and drag Midori, usually to their morning practices, all while his parents stood in the doorway with a smiling face. They were so fond of Chiaki, and Midori could understand _why_ , but it didn't make him less annoyed with his senpai's behavior.

"Haha! Someone has to, Takamine. She really missed you during university, but you didn't update her on anything, so…"

"Senpai, please…" He tried to interrupt him. "I returned to my parents' house already. My mom doesn't miss me anymore, trust me." If anything, she must be tired of him. Both of his parents. Because he was all broken, spending hours in his room doing nothing. He knew the neighbors had rumors about him.

"Nonsense. She's your mother, she will always fuss over you." Chiaki said as if he was able to read his mind.

"Whatever." Midori didn't like this topic. Although, he didn't like this conversation from the beginning. "What about you, Senpai? Are you coming back from work?" Ah, yes, deflection, one of the greatest skills he's gained. His psychologist discouraged him from using it, but with an overbearing Senpai, everything was a fair game, and if they're talking about Chiaki, they're not talking about Midori's problems.

"Nope! I'm on vacation, actually. I've accumulated too many vacation days, so I was kinda forced to go and rest some." He smiled sheepishly while scratching the back of his head.

"Sounds like you, Senpai. I bet you haven't rested at all, though."

"I tried to, but I just get so restless if I'm not doing anything…"

"You're contradicting yourself." God, his senpai was so stupid sometimes. "I don't understand how you can be that energetic without resting."

"It's all about your mindset!"

"R-ight." Midori stared at him skeptically. "And where were you heading to?"

"Home. I was just at the library, returning old books and getting some new ones." He pointed at his bag. "But I guess I won't."

"Huh? Why not?"

"I want to come with you and meet your friend!"

"No. No way."

"I could help you, too!"

"Senpai…" He tried, only half-heartedly. By now, he already knew it was futile to oppose Chiaki's ideas, especially when he thought someone needed help. "We don't need help, for sure."

"Still, three people are better than two."

"You don't even know _what_ we are doing."

"A hero never shies away from a challenge. Whatever it is, bring it on!"

Midori shook off his head. "If you're so adamant about it. Don't complain to me later, though."

"A hero never complains!"

"Whoa." Chiaki stared at every house they passed along the way. "Is your friend living here?"

"Ahh, no. We're...helping…someone else." It was becoming quite difficult to phrase it without stumbling over his words. He had no clue how long he could keep it up before messing up and revealing to Chiaki that he was, in fact, not helping anyone, but doing a job he was getting paid to do.

"Takamine!" His expression glowed with pride.

"Senpai, please focus on the road. You don't want to walk into a streetlamp. Again."

He picked up his pace, opting to get to the house as fast as he could. Midori wasn't sure if it was a good idea to have Mika and Chiaki meet up, but at least he would have Mika backing him up. Maybe he would Chiaki completely distracted by Mika, too. They were actually similar in some ways, like how fast they could talk, for example. Maybe they will out-talk each other.

"Oh, there he is." He saw Mika standing at the gate, scrolling through his phone.

"I hope we didn't make him wait for too long!"

"He probably did." Mika did have a tendency to come earlier.

"Ah?" Chiaki made a confused noise, but Midori ignored it.

"Kagehira-san." He waved to him.

"Eh, Midori-kun? Who's that?" Mika looked at them with curiosity.

"A senpai from my high school. I met him on the train, and he _insisted_ on joining us." Midori spoke up fast, to make sure he could explain the situation before either Chiaki or Mika would blow off his cover story. "He heard we're here to _help_ Ms. Chiba and he really likes _helping_ out people."

"Ohh, ahh." Mika nodded. It seemed like he got the gist of it. "Helpin' us, I see. Well, I'd say we could use 'nother pair of hands, actually. I'm Kagehira Mika."

"Kagehira Mika! Nice to meet you! I'm the ally of justice, the burning heart Morisawa Chiaki!"

Midori froze in his place. Chiaki…was still using his old catchphrase. Why couldn't he introduce himself like a normal person would? He even smiled at Mika, earnestly waiting for his reaction.

"Is this…uh…" Mika was visibly puzzled. "Like a roleplay thing or somethin'?"

_Oh no_. Midori was beyond mortified after this comment. "No! Nothing like that! Senpai is really into tokusatsu, that is all."

"I am an ally of justice, though, Takamine!"

"Don't phrase it in such a way that other people will misunderstand you." He scolded Chiaki. "Kagehira-san, senpai is a firefighter, so you could say he's an 'ally of justice'."

"A firefighter, huh." Midori sure hoped Mika didn't get the wrong idea. "Well, it could be helpful! I wanna move some furniture 'round but it would've been hard just with the two of us."

"Moving furniture? No problem, you can count on me!" Chiaki made sure to do his stupid hero posture. Fortunately, Mika didn't seem to pay too much attention to his actions.

"Midori-kun, we have enough supplies, right?"

"Yep, I bought more gloves and I think we have a spare mask that senpai can use."

"Wait, what are we doing here?" Chiaki finally asked. Midori almost forgot he didn't tell him the reason they came to this house. "Are we cleaning it? Because I don't see cleaning supplies."

"You didn't tell him?" Midori shrugged at Mika's questions. "Ah, Morisawa-san, we're not cleanin' the place. We're here the investigate the house. The clie – friend, I mean, wanted us to check the house because it might be cursed."

"Cursed?" All of the sudden, Chiaki became really pale. "What do you mean?"

"We heard from the neighbors that the owners of the houses all died of unnatural causes, and some people reported weird incidents around the house. Like people getting hurt because they passed the house on the street kind of weird." Midori explained in a monotone voice.

"So…it's…haunted?"

"No, it's cursed. Keep up with us, senpai." Midori passed him the spare mask and a pair of gloves.

"We're going the enter it? Into the… _cursed_ house?!" Chiaki's hands were shaking as he took the items from Midori. Mika was already at the doorway, waiting for them to come along.

"Obviously." Midori almost said that he was getting paid to do so but managed to keep his mouth shut. "Hey, senpai, you remember, no complaints, right?"

They were supposed to split the rest of the rooms on the first floor, yet, somehow, Chiaki ended up clinging to Midori, refusing to let go. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, Midori knew Chiaki was easily scared, but he saw no real reason to be so scared.

"Senpai…" He tried to calm him down. "There are no ghosts in this house…"

"H-how do you know?"

"Because ghosts don't exist." He deadpanned, which didn’t help at all. Chiaki was insistent on holding onto his arm in what felt like a death grip. Midori could swear his arm was going numb because of it.

"You can't be sure of that!" Ugh, he was full-on panicking. Midori wasn’t sure what he should say, he's always been bad at that. He looked at the door, hoping Mika would come to save him, but to no avail. It wasn't like Mika would know, too, that was a stupid idea. Midori knew Chiaki better than Mika, after all…

"We were here before and nothing happened…" Was a start, albeit weak. "Besides, senpai is a brave hero, right? One who can conquer even his deepest fears?"

That sounded super cheesy. Fortunately, Chiaki was all about those cheesy lines.

"T-that's right!" Even though his face was just as pale as before, he seemed more encouraged. "I can do it! Probably!"

Midori pretended he didn't hear the last bit. "You see? We'll get this room done in no time and prove there is nothing here."

"Yeah! Let's do it!"

* * *

After making the decision on how to split the room, they had twenty minutes of peaceful work. Chiaki was surprisingly immersed in his tasks, until Midori remembered how diligent he was during high school. A bit nosy and loud, sure, but it was because they spent most of their time on the field back then.

"Say, Takamine, why is the house in this state?"

"It hasn't been lived in for a while."

"No, I meant to this…" He flailed his hand at the room. "Mess…"

"Oh, uh. There are some legal reasons?" Midori didn't want to elaborate. Wrapping his head around the formalities was hard enough on its own for his brain, not to mention it would only complicate the lie. By now, he's grown tired of lying about almost everything to almost everyone. Why couldn't he tell the truth? Ah right, it was the stupid part of his brain that made him feel like he couldn't get everyone's hopes up because, surely, he will end up disappointing them.

"I see." Chiaki looked like he contemplated something, which was _always_ a bad sign. "How did you even get to know Ms. Chiba?"

Dammit. That's a good question. "Through Mika." He answered immediately. Great, he would just get Mika blamed for everything, why not. He sure hoped Mika wouldn't mind, since he was the older one, technically, so he should take care of Midori. Honestly, that logic was a bit twisted and didn't hold up against his relationship with Chiaki, his extremely irresponsible upperclassmen. He recalled many occasions when he had to shut off some of Chiaki's ideas due to their sheer stupidity.

And despite that, some fondness still remained in his heart when he thought about these memories. His missed those times when his senpai set such a high pace, leaving no room for troubling thoughts, he had no choice but to keep up with him. It was exhausting and rewarding at the same time. Not only that, but his upperclassmen also took care of him – whenever he felt slightly off or down, they _noticed_.

Sometimes, he wondered if the image of Chiaki in his head was true to reality, because there were times where he really looked up to him. Not that he'll tell him that.

"He seems like a nice guy." Chiaki said.

Another thing Midori wouldn't admit, but Chiaki was a good judge of characters. Behavior wise, he would try to act the same towards everyone, too polite to call people on their bullshit at times, but a good judge, nonetheless. "Well, yeah, I guess he is."

"Yep! It's so nice of him to go out of his way to help a friend!" Chiaki was beaming and Midori was starting to regret letting him come along. Chiaki was thinking highly of Mika, now, though, so the plan of them out-talking each other might work. "I mean, I wouldn't want to go through a haunted house…"

"Cursed." Midori corrected him.

"What is the difference between the two?"

"That's…" He paused to think, realizing he never dwelled on that. "An excellent question, to which I don't know the answer, unfortunately, because I don't care that much for the occults. Mika is the one who's into the supernatural, so he might know."

"We'll have to ask, then. It's better if we take precautions." He was taking it more seriously than Midori. Midori also didn't miss the hint of Chiaki tagging along next time. "Maybe we need special items?"

"Like what? Holy water?" Midori said skeptically. "I still don't believe any of that is true."

"But – earlier you told me how the window broke out of nowhere!" Chiaki stepped closer to one of the windows. He examined it thoroughly while Midori sighed.

"Senpai, it could be a coincidence. Who knows how old this house is? it's full of accidents waiting to happen, if you can tell by the way it looks."

"So you have no clue how old is it?"

"Well…" Midori tried to remember. It was probably written in his file… "I could check, just give me a moment." He took out his phone to access the report he's written, only to find no mentions about it. "I…sorry, I don't have that information. I don't think Ms. Chiba would, too, and I wouldn't want to bother her to check it up."

"Oh, it's okay. I was just curious because the glass is very thick. Windows do break after years due to pressure, but with this thickness, it would've taken a long time."

"How do you know?"

"Work!" Chiaki grinned. "We have to investigate scenes and, maybe you'll be surprised, but we work with windows a lot. I picked up some facts from my seniors when we worked on a particularly nasty scene where an electronic just combusted and we had to prove it wasn't arson. In that case, the windows really helped us, by the way it broke and all!"

"Oh." It took a moment for Midori to process that information. "That's…rather impressive." He still had a few questions in mind. "Still, couldn't it be a different kind of accident? Like a bird crashing into the window? Or some kids messing up while playing with a ball and breaking it?"

"Hmm…" Chiaki considered that. "Unlikely? If it was an object coming from outside, then…"

Ah, Midori understood his reasoning. "Then the glass should break towards the inside, not the outside."

"They have French windows, so I bet some _would_ have broken outside, but it's hard to know the circumstances because we weren't there."

They were at a stalemate. No matter how hard Midori thought about it, the only other explanation was a person went inside the house to do that on purpose. Which he could understand, in the case of that mean man. It would also mean someone has trespassed into the house.

"I bet you're thinking that someone did it?"

"That's the only logical explanation idea, senpai. Unless you really believe there is some curse or a ghost in here…"

Chiaki gulped. "Ah, I'd rather not believe that."

"Right? Maybe it's some sort of an elaborate, unfunny prank." He sighed. "Really, really unfunny though."

"There are some people – " Chiaki started, but wasn't able to finish his sentence. A loud noise interrupted him, and, before Midori could react, Chiaki grabbed his hand and pulled him to the side.

"What the fuck." Midori mumbled.

As if summoned by bad omen, the window they stood by broke. Pieces of murky glass scattered on the floor, in the place they were just a few moments ago. Midori was shaken, his breath halting as he stared at the pieces and the thoughts ran in his head, all jumbled in panic.

Then, one after another, from the left to right, each window broke. Shards flew by them, hitting them from all angles, until there were no windows left and it was finally quiet. 

Midori looked with horror at the frames.

"What the actual fuck."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, uh, long time no update haha? /sweats. 
> 
> Honestly, I got a bit tired of this story. Especially since I've learned how hard it is to write chaptered stories where you don't have much of an indication of whether people are actually reading it. It's a bit of a shame since it was the chapter I was waiting for the most to write because I love writing three idiots manging to up each other in the lack of their brain cells.  
> Updates will probably be slower due to my motivation completely plummeting, but I'll try to finish it regardless since I've already written half of the story. Just gonna take a while.


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